the 90mm portrait question

[Printmaker]

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My 90 Tele'ele (which rode in my pocket for 30 years) got a bit hazy so I replaced it with the 90 Elmarit M. The 90 Elmarit M is a bit heavy to ride in a pocket but it is a very nice lens. I doubt if I'll ever part with mine. But if I had to do it over again, I'd go with a 75 or 90 Summarit or 90 Macro Elmar, just to have that portability once again.

 

Of course, a 90 Apo Summicron on a M240 with the EVF is a whole new animal. Very nice for composing an exactly framed portrait. But again not a pocket lens.

 

BTW: by portability I mean a M9 with a 35 Summicron around my neck and to the side under my jacket with a light tele in the pocket. Add a card or two and a spare battery in another pocket and who needs a camera bag? Best way to travel.

[CheshireCat]

I mean the 2.8 Elmarit, sorry for the mistake

 

As usual, I'm saying that the Elmarit is a great lens but has a color rendering problem. So much that I consider it a B&W only lens.

 

And as usual, people will reply that they totally disagree

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[algrove]

I reference an older thread post #13 called "Best portrait lens".

 

90 Elmarit-M 2.8

 

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Old 26/09/14, 17:20 #14 (permalink)

[algrove]

Sorry, I tried to copy/paste the exact post, but it did not work as planned.

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I reference an older thread post #13 called "Best portrait lens".

 

90 Elmarit-M 2.8

 

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Thank You say...

airscrew (04/10/14), Bateleur (07/10/14), Delcredere (27/09/14), efreed2754 (29/09/14), Fgcm (28/09/14), jan_kappetijn (29/09/14), jmr237 (26/09/14), KAD (26/09/14), mnutzer (27/09/14), NightSun (27/09/14), Numbers (28/09/14), pico (28/09/14), RickLeica (28/09/14), rramesh (30/09/14)

Old 26/09/14, 17:20 #14 (permalink)

 

Would that be this one, by any chance?

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/2790741-post13.html

[pgk]

As usual, I'm saying that the Elmarit is a great lens but has a color rendering problem.

Yours may have, mine doesn't. Not so much disagreement as negating a sweeping statement;). Actually mine produces excellent colour images.......

[wizard]

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As usual, I'm saying that the Elmarit is a great lens but has a color rendering problem. So much that I consider it a B&W only lens....

 

Sounds like you should remove the yellow filter before taking color shots.

[honcho]

As usual, I'm saying that the Elmarit is a great lens but has a color rendering problem. So much that I consider it a B&W only lens......

 

 

I suggest you take a look at these.

[wda]

If true, Leica would have done something about it by now. A simply superb lens.

[CheshireCat]

I suggest you take a look at these.

 

Hahah, nice try ! I have perfect color vision.

 

I suggest you take a look at this:

 

http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m-lenses/317424-elmarit-m-90-11807-vs-zeiss.html

[CheshireCat]

As usual, too many words and too few photos in this forum.

Here is a crop from a natural light portrait with my Elmarit-M 90 (11807) on the M240.

 

Some people may be perfectly fine with this kind of colors rendering. But I am not happy. What do you think ?

 

NOTE: This is a sRGB JPEG, however the wide-gamut original is not any better.

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Edited November 27, 2014 by CheshireCat

[DigitalHeMan]

Looks ok to me but a) only you saw the colors when you took the photo and I don't know how you post processed c) what time and where it was taken. To me looks like the shot was taken on a late sunny afternoon

Edited November 27, 2014 by DigitalHeMan

[lct]

Hard to rely on jpegs for anything serious.

[otto.f]

When I read your question carefully I also think that you want the latest Elmarit 90. It has astounding sharpness and has not as thin a DOF as the APO Summicron. I use my APO only at 2.0 and 2.4, whereas I used my Elmarit at much more diaphragms.

I must say that the contrast of the Elmarit is enormous and in this way it is not as flattering for portrait as the Tele-Elmarit's. But I found these too dreamy.

As a portrait lens I think you have to find your way with the Elmarit's contrast. I used it in my film period and had to adjust development for this lens: B&W indeed

Edited November 27, 2014 by otto.f

[CheshireCat]

Looks ok to me but a) only you saw the colors when you took the photo and I don't know how you post processed c) what time and where it was taken. To me looks like the shot was taken on a late sunny afternoon

 

Correct. Shot taken at 6:20pm in Spain.

Straight out of camera, no processing apart from slight white balance adjustment. Regardless of white balance adjustments, real colors were a totally different story.

 

Amazing how this old lens outresolves the M240 sensor. Here are a couple 100% crops of the original. Notice the color moire on the one to the right.

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Edited November 27, 2014 by CheshireCat

[CheshireCat]

Hard to rely on jpegs for anything serious.

 

Interesting contribution.

Please explain, I'm all ears.

Edited November 27, 2014 by CheshireCat

[pgk]

Some people may be perfectly fine with this kind of colors rendering. But I am not happy. What do you think?

I think that it is impossible to say what you are seeing on your monitor/prints from posting an sRGB jpeg. As I've already said, I have no colour issues with my Elmarit-M - you will just have to accept that I am discerning enough and that I'm being both objective and accurate. There are way too many variables involved to be able to determine colour differences via web posted images.

[wda]

CheshireCat, I have very slightly tweaked White Balance in LR5, sampling various small segments of the silver pendant. On my calibrated monitor there was a small perceptible change in the blouse colour. I also increased exposure slightly since there was plenty of room on the histogram rhs. But the trouble is your lighting was end-of-day dappled shade/sunlight which can alter how the hue of colours. The eye is very accommodating; the camera less so. I suggest you test again in even lighting taking a grey-card shot for later fine-tuning.

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[CheshireCat]

I think that it is impossible to say what you are seeing on your monitor/prints from posting an sRGB jpeg.

 

Here is the ProPhoto JPEG. This is straight out of camera. Note that some web browsers will not be able to display this image correctly, therefore I recommend saving the JPEG and opening it with a proper program.

 

Like I said, the colors from this lens are so crappy, that the wider gamut does not make much of a difference.

My Zeiss lenses are a totally different story. The APO Summicron 90 is also much better, but I returned it because of the disappointing sharpness at portrait distance (probably due to lack of a floating group).

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica M

[DigitalHeMan]

Have you tried other examples of the same lens model under the same circumstances to rule out sample variation?